Eating to Survive - Fruits Food Group

"Fruits are nature's sweets, and although they are generally referred to as equally nutritious vegetables, fruits usually have seeds and high sugar content as well as being wellsprings of vitamins, minerals, and fiber."

Fruits are nature's sweets, and although they are generally referred to as equally nutritious vegetables, fruits usually have seeds and high sugar content as well as being wellsprings of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Fruits contain a high amount of simple sugars which means that quite naturally consuming too many fruits will result in weight gain. Fruits are excellent sources of nutrients such as carbohydrates, vitamin C, vitamin A (yellow fruits), B complex vitamins, minerals, fiber, and fresh fruits provide water. The recommended number of servings we are to consume are two or more per day.

Eating to Survive - Food From Animal Sources Food Group

"Foods from animals like Lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, ham, sausages, sardines, liver, heart, kidney, tripe, etc. are excellent sources for protein, iron, B complex, and fat-soluble vitamins and fat." 

Photo courtesy of Breathingcenter.com

The food from animal sources (FFA) food group is the one that receives the most attention for many reasons most of which are valid. Foods in this food group provide nutrients that are more bioavailable to the body, meaning that the body absorbs and uses nutrients from these sources much easier than other food sources. 

Foods from animals like Lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, ham, sausages, sardines, liver, heart, kidney, tripe, etc. are excellent sources for protein, iron, B complex, and fat-soluble vitamins and fat.  Other food from animals like red meats and organ meats are excellent sources of haem iron. and other foods like fresh milk, evaporated, skimmed; yogurt, cheese provides us with calcium, protein, vitamins A and D, thiamine, riboflavin, carbohydrate, and fat.

Eating to Survive-Legumes Food Group

"Eating more legumes has become more popular in recent times as it is seen to lessen the reliance of the population on meat, which is becoming more expensive."

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. 

In the legume food group used in the Caribbean, we have peas, beans, and nuts. Legumes are used by Vegetarians as a source of protein as it is fairly inexpensive and readily available. Legumes are also consumed heavily in the regular diet for the same reasons, however, we usually pair our peas and beans with meat, or in soups and stews as well as staple dishes such as rice and peas which is a dish of rice and kidney beans. Unlike meat, Legumes contribute much less fat to the diet and are a source of, protein, carbohydrates, the minerals calcium and iron, fiber.

Eating more legumes has become more popular in recent times as it is seen to lessen the reliance of the population on meat, which is becoming more expensive. Meat production is much more expensive due to the cost of animal husbandry, slaughtering, and butchering and is now seen as less environmentally friendly. 

Although substituting peas and beans for meat is a great way to meet your daily requirement of protein, you will have to consume much more legumes for the equivalent amount received from meat. Here is a list of the most commonly consumed legumes in the Caribbean and the recommended serving sizes. 

LEGUMES/NUTS	MEASURE/EXCHANGE
Almonds (shelled)	10
Channa/Chickpea	¼cup
Chataigne/Breadnut	2-3 seeds
Dahl, medium consistency	½ cup
Dried peas and beans (1 tbsp. dry) cooked	¼ cup
Green peas, canned	½ cup
Green Pigeon/Gungo Peas, broad beans	¼ cup
Stewed Peas	¼ cup
Baked Beans (canned without molasses and pork)	2 tbsp
Peanuts (salted or unsalted, roasted and shelled)	16
Cashew nuts (salted or unsalted, roasted and shelled)	7

The recommended daily intake of legumes is three servings per day, so if you are having all three at once you would need to have 21 cashews for the day and that would be enough to meet your daily requirements. This is the recommendation for an individual who is also consuming foods from animal sources. The requirements may be different for someone who is having a plant-based diet.

The protein in dried peas, dried beans, and nuts is more efficiently utilized by the body if a cereal such as rice or protein food from an animal source is included in the same meal. This is is the basis on which most of our dishes are designed, i.e. Rice and Peas, Oxtail and Bean, Stew Peas, Red Peas Soup, etc. 

Some useful tips when consuming Legumes: 

Eat nuts as a snack and between meals to stave off hunger

Add legumes to your vegetable salads to make them more filling

Soak beans overnight to remove gas-producing carbohydrates and lessen the cooking time. 

What are some traditional legume-based dishes that you prepare in your country? 

Eating to Survive - Staples Food Group

 "The main nutrient that we get from staple foods is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are needed by the body to produce energy, so staples should be included in each meal." 

Staples are one of the six food groups we have in the Caribbean. These foods are usually affordable and readily available to the population. The main nutrient that we get from staple foods is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are needed by the body to produce energy, so staples should be included in each meal. High fiber staples usually contribute to satiety and help reduce overeating.  People also tend to overindulge in staple foods, so by adding a wide variety of foods from the different food groups you can balance your meals and reduce the likelihood of overeating. 

Foods from the list of different staples below can be interchanged in a meal plan because it has been proven that each food listed contains roughly equal amounts of calories and carbohydrates. 

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It is recommended that for a meal, you should be having  3-4 servings of carbohydrates on your plate. Now in order to determine that, as shown in the list below, you would need to know what is a serving. But what is a serving of carbohydrates? This varies for each food within the group, the table below shows the accepted standard that we use here in the Caribbean.

Although this list is specific to the Caribbean, some foods may be familiar to you and so I encourage you to use the information as it is relevant to help with your meal planning. This list is comprised of the more popular carbohydrates that are consumed and do not represent ALL the available carbohydrates in the Caribbean.

STAPLE FOODS	MEASURE/EXCHANGE
Bread, Rice and Cereal Substitutes
Bread/toast, shop, sliced	½ slice
Bread, hard dough	1 thin slice
Bammy	¼ small
Hamburger bun	½ medium
Hot dog roll	1 small
Biscuits, cream cracker type	3 only
Biscuits, saltines	6 only
Rice, cooked	½ cup
Rice and Peas, cooked	½ cup
Noodles, boiled	½ cup
Macaroni, boiled	½ cup
Spaghetti, boiled	½ cup
Cornmeal porridge, medium consistency	½ cup (cooked with water)
Dumpling made from 2 tbsp flour/cornmeal	1 only
Canned Corn, Whole kernel	½ only
Cornflakes	¾cup
Bran cereals such as Bran Buds, All-Bran	1/3 cup

STAPLE FOODS	MEASURE/EXCHANGE
Starchy Fruits, Roots, and Tubers
Breadfruit	2 pieces
Cassava	1 piece
Dasheen	1 slice
Eddoe/Coco	1 medium
Green Banana/green fig	1 medium
Irish Potato, boiled	1 medium
Irish Potato, mashed	½ cup
Plantain (ripe)	1 piece
Sweet Potato	1 slice
Yam	1 slice

Now, based on what we've said before we know that you need 3-5 servings of carbohydrates for a meal, which means if you were having bread in your meal, based on the table,  you would need 3-5 slices of bread. If you choose to have cream crackers with your meal, you would need to consume 9-15 cream crackers, because a serving of cream crackers based on this list is 3 crackers. 

So if you are having our national dish, Ackee and Saltfish with ground provisions as your  3-5 staples: 

1 slice of yam,1 slice sweet potato, 2 pieces of breadfruit, 1 dumpling, and 1 piece of (ripe) plantain is sufficient for that meal. This is if we are consuming a maximum of 5 servings of the Staples recommended for a meal.

Now, this is how we will be expanding the information around all the six food groups with the goal to eventually teach you how to plan your meals correctly. 

That is it for the Staples food group, feel free to comment or ask questions.